Bruce

I am tired of all the unfriendly people here in Washington D.C., can't anyone smile or exchange pleasant conversation any more?

I am interested in traveling or moving to the City-State with the most friendy people. People who smile, talk to stangers and are open to everyone. Is there such a place?

Please tell me where you have lived or traveled where people are just plain nice and friendly. Thanks.

Jim Rosenberg

For larger cities that I've visited, my vote would go to Minneapolis. It is heavily populated by people who are ften transplants from the many friendly smaller towns in the Upper Midwest. It lacks the competitive atmosphere of a city like Chicago. (I'm not picking on Chicago -- it's just a street-level observation on the day-to-day, big-city "feel" and I can feel the difference as soon as I hit the suburban freeways). Most reliable place to go to meet friendly people almost anywhere? Canada always impressed me with that quality and I've noted it from the western provinces to the Maritimes.

Dan

Wisconsin. I'm from Chicago and every time I go to Wisconsin I'm amazed at how friendly everyone is. Milwaukee is a great city. One of America's best kept secrets. I may not live there, but I was smart enough to import my wife from there.

A.M.

Hello Jim Rosenberg,
On behalf of all Canadians, thanks for the, not always deserved, compliment.
A.M.

John

I relocated to New Orleans ten years ago and find it extremely friendly with many great NEIGHBORHOODS. It's nice to chat with people who are sitting on their front porches...

Leilani

It may be coincidence, but I've met the friendliest people in places where it doesn't snow in the winter time: San Francisco, Honolulu, New Orleans. (High five, John!)

When a friend from the D.C. area came to visit me in California, she was amazed that the store clerk asked where she was from and chatted about the weather.
"The store clerks at home don't talk to you?" I asked.
"Well, yeah, but only to say, 'That'll be $3.56, please.' " she said.
I guess I'm so used to the friendliness here that I take it for granted.

ldsant

I agree with all of the posts so far as places where people are extremely friendly (especially the Canadians - like Dan, I've "imported" my boyfriend from there. . .).

I do think people are pretty friendly here in Seattle. People don't honk on the streets (very impolite), they wait at 4-way stops, and they'll talk with you in restaurants, coffee shops, etc.

Katherine

I'm always amazed at how friendly and considerate people are in Colorado.

lena

I think some of the friendliest people I've met are here on the Fodors board!

Tony

Southern California is actually one of the friendliest places that I've ever lived. Friends and family who come to visit me are always surprised at how you can get into a conversation with store clerks and waiters without any effort. I guess we all are happy to be out here in the sunshine and it just comes through in everyone's attitudes.

kim

I have met friendly people and rude people from all over the U.S. However, it seems that those who live in areas where there are many people who are not "native" to the region, tend to be friendlier.

Carolyn

Hey, Leilani, I'm from a place where we have snow some years from October til May. I consider the people around here to be pretty darn friendly. We all have the shoveling, snowdays, boots, hats, scarves & mittens in common. Guess all these things warm the heart. Canadians get lots of snow too, you know. (I love you guys) Carolyn, from upstate New York, way, way upstate I might add.

windowseat

People in cities are usual too wary or too occupied to be friendly, but a good measure of a cities friendliness is to ride the public transit. Of all the cities Ive lived in Philadelphia has the friendliest transit riders. Los Angeles the worst.

Lara

I just had to relpy...Please do not judge the people of the city of Los Angeles by the character of those who ride the "public transit" here....if you have ever been here, there is no public transportation to speak of!! Not that LA should win the "most friendly" award...in my dealings with Chicago (granted...I have only visited on beautiful fall days...no humidity and no snow!), it should win for friendliest BIG city. I just can't leave the beaches and weather here

Just had to stick up for my fellow Angelenos

windowseat

Lara...Sorry to say but L.A has the biggest public transit system in the nation. I lived there for over 10 years and took the bus and later the subway everyday. Im just saying I never witnessed the amount of friendliness; politeness and saneness there that I have in Philly. I should also say that the friendliness in L.A is a necessity. You never know if the person you are talking to can get you in the movies.

Lara

Biggest transporation?????? my goodness-where did you live that you could actually take a subway??? Must be that one line from hollywood to downtown that has been open for all of a couple of years, and that is losing money everyday because it is unused?? Seriously, I am interested, because LA has such a traffic problem because there is no efficient way to get from anywhere that I would like to go And I'm not new to LA...I've lived here my whole life. And i would definitely agree with you about those who actually do ride the public transportation...the one time I did venture out onto the MTA and Big Blue Bus, I vowed never to ride them again....there were freaky people everywhere!!

I have been to many big cities with MUCH better transportation than LA...San Francisco is great (with friendly people, I might add), chicago, NY, Seattle....

Have a lovely day

Tom Morse

I think Sydney wins by far the friendliest contest.

geography

Neither CANADA nor SYDNEY is a state...yet.
But that's a whole other topic, eh?

Leone

Hey, Bruce, if I see you on Metro, I'll smile at you. I'm often amazed when folks bash an entire metropolitan area as being unfriendly, lawless, arrogant ... you name it ... and surprisingly, or perhaps not so, it's often DC these days that gets the gig. I recall it used to be NYC and Paris, now it's little ole DC ... we're in the bigtime. Hey, Bruce, are you smiling yet? Try it ... I just bet it comes back to you in radiant smiles. Hey, it's easier than moving ... and cheaper too, because they're going to charge you for shipping that heavy outlook. Try to smile ... I just imagine your friendly meter is about to expire, and needs change. Ciao

Willy B

How about Atlanta? That town has absolutely nothing going for itself so they're REAL friendly. They'll be more than happy to tell you how they have the tallest hotel, the busiest airport, the 3rd most traffic, the 5th most this, the 8th most that, etc. etc. They'll also brag about the Braves, the Buffalo Bills of baseball.